Self-Defense Classes: Experiences of a Disabled Woman

Listening to the news in anywhere United States, you wonder what is happening with others. More importantly, you wonder will it happen to me? Then that thought is followed by, "How will I protect myself if something does?" As a disabled woman, I have always wondered what I would do. If I did learn how to defend myself, would I remember at that moment what I learned in the first place?

Recently, an opportunity came my way that I could not pass up. An organization called "Coalition for independence" was hosting a series of self-defense classes by a woman named Margaret Crow. I learned about the classes from a flyer sent to "The Keeler Women's Center."

As I mentioned earlier, I have a disability, which is cerebral palsy. I only have the use of one arm and leg so the thought of being attacked scars the hell out of me. So when I saw this flyer I knew there would be no better time so I called and signed up for the classes.

Unfortunately, for some reason, I missed the first class; therefore, I was worried that I would not be able to attend the rest. However, when I called they told me to come on in they didn't think there would be a problem. It was just an introductory class. I had not missed any of the drills.

During the hour I had before the class, I was shown the break room where I could relax before the others got there. The break room was quiet, just a few coming in and going either their lunch or dropping off dirty dishes. So I grabbed a soda out of the machine and pulled out my notebook to do a little writing while I had time.

Before long people for the class started arriving, so I put my stuff away and began getting to know the others. Shortly a woman dressed in black and full of energy came walking in carrying a few bags. After brief introductions, I was caught up with the paperwork and filled out a sticker with my disability so when we practice, the partner knew what our disability were. Finally, with that done, we got down to business of learning stances and procedures. Those seemed easy, but after a few repetitions one thing was clear, after this class was done I was going to be sore.

After our first break, we were teamed up and practiced some of the procedures on a partner. Unfortunately, the partner I had was lighter when " attacking" and when I went to defend myself he pulled away. This didn't help me see how that attack would feel when it was coming at me. However, that didn't stop me as I went thru the motions.

One of the abilities of Ms. Margaret crow was that she was able to modify the moves so a disabled person could use the same moves just in a different way. So after three three hour lessons I knew more then I did before I walked into the building.

In conclusion, it does not matter if you have a disability; sel- defense courses are something that you should definitely look into.